


Stranded

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Category: Power Rangers (2017), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 15:26:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10767060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: "You're not Keith.""True," Jason says."But you were in his Lion.""Also true.""How?"When a Galra weapon swaps the Red Ranger and the Red Paladin of Voltron, things can only get more complicated.





	Stranded

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed and written in one night. Written for the [April H/C Bingo challenge](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/138339.html). Enjoy, I guess?

When Jason comes to, there's lights blaring in the cockpit and a desperate sort of shouting in his ears. Instinct alone has him guiding his Zord, and though she seems to fight back against him as he moves, seems to resist and shift and challenge his instructions, it seems to get the job done. It takes a moment after he finally opens his eyes to realize that this isn't his Zord. That it isn't even the Megazord. That it doesn't seem to be a Zord at all.

"Keith, are you alright?"

Jason frowns, looking around and trying to get his bearings. It does still seem to be cockpit of some sort, albeit one that is quite different from his Zord. As he looks down, the suit he's wearing isn't his Ranger armor either, though the red on his shoulders would seem to suggest a similar color scheme to the unit he's involved with at the moment.

"Keith, what the hell are you doing? We need you!"

Jason shakes off his confusion, the desperation coming through the comms in the cockpit enough to drive him into motion. The thing he's piloting seems to be sufficiently amenable to his instructions at the moment, and as he turns her around, he can't stop the sharp intake of breath at what he sees.

Because. Because, for all intents and purposes, he would seem to be in space.

"Keith, buddy, get yourself together!"

Jason tightens his grip on the ship's controls, something in his chest begging him to cede control to the instinct to trust the ship that rests there. It's not like riding in Tyranno, but it's close, and Jason knows that just because it feels and looks like a giant machine, that doesn't mean it isn't also a potential partner.

"Come on, girl," he mutters, "show me what you've got."

The ship reacts immediately, and Jason can feel her speaking to him, as though through a fog. Her instructions are strange and slightly distant, but they work, and he finds himself following them on instinct alone, finding the weapons systems and firing with a pinpoint accuracy that he hasn't even mastered in Tyrrano. Piloting in space is different than piloting on Earth, but those differences have nothing on the distinctions between the two flight systems. Still, Jason's been piloting long enough that he can make do, and he's pretty sure he manages to actually be of some help in taking down what he assumes are enemy ships. When what seems to be a wormhole opens up in front of him, swallowing the ships, and cheers sound through his comms, he takes that as a good sign, and follows the four brightly colored, strangely cat-shaped ships that he assumes hold the owners of the voices on his comms.

When they make their way into what looks like a cross between a battle station and a castle, Jason finds himself wanting to relax. There's something comfortable about sitting in a spaceship that calms him, even from inside a ship that isn't his. He watches as the other pilots exit their ships, then all come together to stare up at him in something like confusion. One of them, the one with black on the shoulders of their suit, tilts their head to the side and reaches a hand up to their helmet. Jason assumes it's their voice that comes through his comms a second later.

"Problem, Keith? I know that blast rocked you pretty hard, but you seemed to come out of it okay."

Jason draws a deep breath before looking around the cockpit to try to take strength from the ship herself. "Guess I gotta go down there, huh?"

The ship seems to softly purr its agreement, confirming Jason's assumption that she too has taken the form of a cat. Jason sighs. He gets to his feet and fumbles his way out of the ship, taking more time than he probably needs to until the ship rumbles at him again. Jason pats lightly at her hull as he makes his way out of the ship toward the others in the space shuttle bay. He stares at all of them for a long moment before, with a low sigh, he reaches up to take his helmet off the way they all seem to have.

The reaction is immediate. The blue one lifts a blaster that Jason hadn't even noticed in his hand before to point at Jason's face, while the green one darts in close, pressing a blade to Jason's throat. Jason lifts his hands in deference, showing that he does not intend to be a threat.

The one in black frowns at him. "You're not Keith."

"True," Jason says.

"But you were in his Lion."

Jason can hear the capital letter in the way he says the word. "Also true."

"How?"

Jason shrugs. "Not totally sure. Last thing I remember was being attacked by some of Rito's monsters. Blinked, and the next thing I knew I was in your… Keith, you said?" The one in black nods. "I was in Keith's ship. She's not too different from my girl at the heart of things, but she definitely wasn't keen on me flying her at first."

The one in blue snorts. "Sounds like Red."

Jason nods. "I can't speak to what happened to your friend, but I would very much like to find my way back to my team. They need me."

The one in black tilts his head to the side, looking contemplative. "What's your name?"

Jason hesitates.

"Look, you look perfectly human, but we can't be too cautious out here."

"How far are we from Earth?" Jason asks. "I just need to be sure you knowing my name won't put my team in jeopardy."

The one in blue laughs. "Dude, we're so far from Earth it barely even shows up on the edges of our maps these days."

Jason nods. "The name's Jason. And you are?"

The one in black holds out a hand for Jason to shake, elbowing the one in blue until he lowers his blaster. "Sorry for my team's treatment of you. I'm Shiro."

Jason waits for the one in green to remove their blade before reaching out to take Shiro's hand. "Good to meet you. Now, any idea how we might get me back to my team?

——

Keith wakes up to a stabbing pain in his right knee and a matching one in his left shoulder, along with a sharp slap to his cheek that has him grabbing for the hand that struck him.

"Oh good," a voice says from above him, "he's awake. That's gonna make it all the easier to kick his ass for whatever bullshit stunt he just pulled."

"Come on, Yellow, it's not like he switched places with our fearless leader on purpose, now, is it?"

There's an air of danger in the second voice, and Keith forces himself to open his eyes to face whatever new danger has just been dropped in his lap. There are four humanoids in full armor surrounding him, and he can't quite stop himself from flinching a little instinctively at the sight of them. The one in yellow is crouched down in front of him, their helmet hiding their features from view, while the other three stand in a loose quarter circle around him. He glances over his shoulder, checking instinctively for an escape route, only to see that they've got him up against a rock formation that would make it difficult if not impossible to escape.

"Yeah, nice try, man," one of them says, though Keith can't tell who through the masks. "We're not letting you get out of this that easily. What's the play here, huh? Take out the leader so it's that much easier for Rito to take out Earth?"

Keith frowns. "Earth? Why... we're on Earth?"

That seems to be the wrong thing to say, and instantly the little yellow one has a dagger pressed against a throat that feels all the more vulnerable for its lack of his normal protective armor. "Nice try," and Keith's pretty sure it's the yellow one speaking to him now. "But we're not falling for that. We know you're working for Rito, and we know you took Red somewhere, so just tell us where you took our leader and maybe we'll let you leave in one piece."

Keith latches onto the only familiar, reasonable word in that whole mess. "Red? Someone has Red?"

There's a minute shift in the yellow one's posture that takes Keith aback. "Red's our leader, and you just popped up where he was, so, yeah, I'd say someone has Red."

Keith frowns. Clearly they're not talking about the same thing here. "You're not talking about the Red Lion of Voltron, are you?"

The yellow one turns to look at the others for a brief moment before turning back to Keith. "I can tell you with total certainty that we are not talking about the Red Lion of Voltron, whatever the hell that is. We're talking about the Red Ranger that just so happened to mystically vanish in the last ten minutes only for you to mysteriously take his place."

Keith frowns, thinking back to the last battle he'd been fighting with his friends. He remembers one of the Galra ships shooting him and Red with some sort of weapon, perhaps the very weapon that Coran had sent them to find. He vaguely remembers Coran's warnings about interstellar travel and—

"Oh, shit," he mutters, reaching up to rub at his forehead only to be stopped by the yellow armored individual's dagger pressing harder against his throat. "Look, I don't know what happened to your friend, but I can tell you with total certainty that it is not my fault."

"And why exactly should we believe you?" one of the standing ones asks.

"Because I'm also probably the only one that can get him back for you."

The silence that fills the air is deafening.

The blue one turns to the black one and mutters something in a language that Keith doesn't recognize. The black one shakes their head as though in answer, but the blue one speaks again, more insistently this time. The black one huffs, shrugging and nodding at the pink one. The blue one moves their appeal to the pink one instead, who seems a bit more amenable than the black one. The pink one nods briefly, sharply, before calling out, presumably to the yellow one in front of him. The yellow one shakes their head vigorously, but, after a few more words from the pink and blue ones, nods reluctantly.

"Fine," the yellow one says in English. "Fine, we'll take him to Zordon. He'll know better than us anyway."

Keith lets himself be hauled to his feet, ignoring the twinge in his knee only to cry out when one of them shoulders their way under his left arm.

The one under his arm—the pink one, he thinks—hisses sharply. "Dislocated, I think. Must've happened when you fell." Keith grimaces. "We'll have to pop it back in place; there's no way we're getting you down to the ship without an unnecessary amount of pain otherwise."

Keith frowns, longing for the bitter aftertaste from a night spent in healing pods on the castle in a way that he never expected. "Fine," he says sharply, "just make it quick."

The black one moves toward him, but the pink one puts an arm out. "I got this, Black," they say, and Keith can tell from the black one's posture that he should probably be grateful for their intervention. The one in pink isn't careful, but they are precise as they pop his shoulder back into place. They look down at his knee, head tilted as though in contemplation. "You gonna be okay on that knee?"

Keith grimaces. "Do I have a choice?"

The one in pink shrugs. "Not really."

"Then I guess I'll be fine."

They blindfold him—Keith doesn't ask where they got the fabric and none of them volunteers the information—and all but frog march him over way more terrain than he's used to traversing on foot these days. He's not out of shape, per se, he just isn't used to this particular kind of workout. His knee and shoulder are both protesting the lack of healing pod treatment by the time they make it to the point where they remove his blindfold, a bluff that seems to be way out in the middle of nowhere.

"I'll climb down with him," one of them—Keith thinks it's the pink one—says. His assumption is confirmed when the other three nod and then—holy _shit_ —jump over the edge of the cliff.

"Um," Keith starts, and the one in pink laughs.

"Come on," they say, turning their back and indicating that he should hop on their back. "I'll give you a lift."

Keith swallows, praying that he can actually hold on well enough to make it to the bottom of the ravine.

——

There's silence in the main chamber of the castle when they bring Jason in. He can't help the way he looks around the room, eyes searching out any point of weakness or potential escape should the need arise, and the two others in the room seem skeptical of him as the others bring him in.

"Where's Keith?" the woman asks.

Shiro answers with a cautious sort of firmness. "We were hoping Coran could answer that question."

The man startles. "Me?"

"Yes. Red was hit by a weapon from one of the Galra ships that we couldn't identify. We figured it was probably the one you wanted us to destroy."

The man—Coran? Jason files that name away just in case—frowns at Shiro, looking a little confused. "I didn't think they had it operational yet."

"What was it supposed to do?"

Coran turns away, fingers flying over a keyboard that appears in midair in front of him. Jason can't help but be impressed. "Our information from the Blade of Marmora indicated that it was some manner of advanced time-space bending weapon based around the Blade's own technology. That's why they asked us to look into it, to see if we could determine the source of the information leak based on the weapon's specifications." He turns to Jason. "So you're saying…?"

Jason shrugs, and Shiro cuts in. "He was in Keith's ship. Claims to have appeared there from the midst of one of his own battles. He was in full armor, and Red seemed to be following his commands, but. Well. He's obviously not Keith."

Coran purses his lips under the impressive mustache he's sporting, and turns back to his midair computer, typing rapidly. "Well, I can't say that I know for sure what's going on, but—"

All at once, the light in the room flickers, going pitch dark for a moment. Then a face appears on the screen before them. One Jason recognizes.

He sucks in a breath, feeling rattled, and all but knocked off his feet. "Zordon?"

The relief is palpable, even through the poor reception their connection seems to be providing. "Jason," Zordon says, and Jason can immediately feel himself relaxing in response.

The woman that had been in the control room when the entered gets to her feet. "You're... you're Eltarian," she says, wonder in her voice. "You were supposed to have died off millennia ago."

Zordon nods. "I am Zordon of Eltar. I was sent to Earth millennia ago from my home planet of Eltar to protect their Zeo crystal from one of my own."

The woman's eyes go wide. "You're a Varthal?"

Zordon tilts his head to the side, clearly processing the word. "Yes, I suppose that would be the word in your language. Though I gave up my claim to that title when I failed in my mission. The young man you have before you is the one that took up my mantle, and I should very much like to have him back on Earth with me and his team."

Coran winces. "It may not be that simple Varthal Zordon," he says. "We have our own enemies to be aware of, and exposing the home planet of our paladins could have horrific consequences."

Zordon nods. "Understood. We can make efforts to conceal the transport of both my ranger and your paladin, but—"

Shiro straightens. "He's with you? Keith's with you?"

Zordon nods. "The young man is mostly unharmed, though I imagine he will be most grateful to be back among his allies. He has been rather... disagreeable."

Shiro laughs. "Sounds like Keith."

Zordon tilts his head to the side in acknowledgement. "He certainly seems like a valuable—and, indeed, valued—member of your team. I shall see to it that he remains as safe as possible while here on Earth."

The one in the blue armor stands up straight. "Safe? What's going on on Earth? Why wouldn't he be safe?"

"The planet is well protected, paladin," Zordon says calmly.

Jason nods. "My team is well equipped to keep everyone on Earth safe."

The one on blue shakes his head. "No, you don't understand, my family's still on Earth! He turns to the woman. "Allura, you said the Galra hadn't found Earth yet!"

"And they haven't," the woman affirms. "I presume Varthal Zordon is speaking of another threat that faces your planet."

Zordon nods. "The only enemies that have come to the planet are mine, and those that desire the Zeo crystal. The planet at large has nothing to worry about."

The one in blue doesn't seem wholly convinced, but the one in yellow moves over toward him, wrapping an arm over his shoulder. "Don't worry, Lance," he says softly. "You know Coran and Allura have been keeping tabs on your family as best they can. They would have told us if anything happened."

Lance, the one in blue, nods. "Yeah. Yeah, man, you're right. Of course you're right." He takes a deep, shuddering breath. "Of course you're right. Thanks, Hunk."

The names are what finally click in Jason's mind. "Holy shit, you guys are the Garrison team that went missing last year!"

Lance stands up a little taller, as though in challenge. "Yeah? And?"

Jason shakes his head. "Everyone assumed you were dead. I can't believe... I can't _believe_ you're still alive!!" He turns to Shiro, taking in his appearance with more clarity now. "And you're the pilot from the Kerberos mission," he says, shaking his head. "No wonder you're all such good pilots."

Shiro gives him a half smile. "Yeah, well. Keep it under wraps when we get you back, yeah? We have enough trouble keeping the Galra unaware of what our home planet is, and that's without the government trying to find us."

Jason nods, still feeling a little starstruck. "Yeah. Yeah, man, of course."

"Although—" Lance cuts himself off, biting his lip and looking away as though in uncertainty. But Hunk elbows him and he stands up a little straighter, and he seems to find his words. "Although, if you wouldn't mind getting a message to my family?"

Jason feels his face go soft at the request. "Sure thing. Anything. Just get me back to my team, and you've got it."

Lance relaxes a little, looking more at ease than Jason's seen him since he first landed the Red Lion in the ship's docking bay. "Thank you. That— Thank you."

Jason just nods, feeling as though he's just done something far more impressive than agree to deliver a message.

——

Keith doesn't really appreciate being kept literally underground while the creature the armored figures affectionately refer to as "Wall Dad" works with Coran to find a way to get Keith back to the rest of the paladins. His one consolation is that the creature in the ship had let him see and talk to his team in their central control chamber long enough to confirm that they are actually working on trying to get him back to his team. The whole endeavor seems to be taking its sweet time, but Keith knows he'll just be more trouble than help if he tries to do anything to speed up the process.

The armored figures make their appearance periodically, always staying fully armed, as though they expect him to—

Well. He's not exactly sure what they expect.

In the end, it's the blue one he asks about why they always stay full armored around him. "We need to keep our identities secret, especially with Red away. We may not all agree with how he leads all the time, but he is our leader, and we can hardly reveal our identities to you with him out of commission."

Keith takes the answer at face value, though he can't help feeling there might be something more to it. Still, they seem to be decent enough, and they are working to get him back, so what's a few secrets between them anyway?

Apparently a much bigger deal than he'd thought.

When they come back one night to Keith watching Zordon work, all staggering slightly and missing their smallest member, though with an extra body in tow, Keith can tell there's something more here than meets the eye.

"Clear out," Black says sharply. Keith hates that he's long since figured out how to tell them apart by their voices.

Still, he scrambles to his feet, frowning. "Where's Yellow?"

"I said, clear out," Black says again, and Keith suddenly makes the connection.

Yellow's been injured.

He clenches his fists, hoping his own team isn't floundering as royally in his absence as this one seems to be in the absence of their leader. Then he marches his way out of the central control chamber and makes his way toward the room they'd made up as a makeshift bedroom for him.

He barely makes it out of the room before he hears Yellow's screams echoing down the hallway. He doesn't want to know what they're doing to help her, but he can only hope it doesn't backfire horribly.

——

Jason spends most of his time pacing the central control room while Coran and Zordon work to get him back home. When Zordon drops out in the middle of communications one night, Jason is practically frantic with worry about his team. In the end, it takes Coran tersely reminding him about the existence of a training chamber in the castle that he is free to use to get him out of the central control room.

It takes more effort than normal to reach out to the morphing grid to feel its power fill him up until it spills over his skin and covers him, protecting him in the familiar armor. Still, he manages it, and the room responds to his called commands despite this not being his place. Several drones appear, and Jason wastes no time in demolishing them. It's easy enough to take them out, but in an instant another set appears, back and ready to fight. Gradually the drones turn to a fully fledged robot which turns to half a dozen robots all coming at him with murder in their circuits. It relaxes Jason in a way he's forgotten fighting did, and by the time he calls off the simulation he feels pleasantly exhausted the way only a few rounds with putties leaves him. He showers quickly before he makes his way back up to the control chamber. When he sees Zordon on the front screen again, he tenses briefly before asking the only question that matters.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Yellow was injured," Zordon says, a hint of apology in his tone, "but she is recovering."

Jason's jaw goes tight, but he forces himself to nod. "Okay. As long as she's recovering."

He goes back to his pacing after that, listening as Zordon and Coran talk about things that he only vaguely understands, feeling more stranded and helpless than he has since he first picked up his power coin. If only—

But then, his team can handle themselves. They're certainly doing the best they can under the circumstances. Jason can ask for nothing more.

——

Black's the best cook of the lot of them, but it's Blue that makes and brings the sweet tea that finally calms Keith's nerves. It's one of the things that Hunk never quite manages to get right, but somehow Blue manages it. They're in what they all hope are the final hours of this unforeseen outcome of the Galra weapon, and Keith can feel himself wondering if it's their efforts are going to be enough. If he's going to see his team again. If—

"Hey," Blue says, as though he can hear what Keith's thinking. "You're making the same face Red does when he's thinking too hard. Don't worry so much, okay? Zordon and your Coran have this under control, okay? You're gonna be home in no time."

Keith swallows thickly. "And if it doesn't work?"

Blue pauses, seemingly uncertain. Then he shrugs. "Then we try something different. Red isn't going to abandon us no matter what, and I don't think your team will abandon you either. Okay? They're going to figure this out, even if it takes awhile. I'm sure of it."

Keith lifts the thermos of sweet tea Blue had brought and sips at it. The comfort it plants in his chest is just enough to convince him that maybe, just maybe, they're going to be okay.

——

In the end, getting sent back to Earth is rather anticlimactic. After all the calculations and computations and work and effort and test runs that Zordon and Coran had put into it, Jason had expected a bit more pomp and circumstance. A little more pizzaz. Maybe even a bit more risk. But in the end all it takes is Jason stepping back into Red and, he presumes, Keith stepping onto his morphing pad (and though that stings more than he thinks it should, he tries to push it aside in favor of what needs to be done) to send them both back home. The shift sends him crashing to his knees in the ship, his whole body going weak and his knee throbbing pointedly when he lands too hard on it, but when he opens his eyes it's to see his team gathered around him in full armor. He can't stop the helpless smile that spreads over his face as he clambers to his feet to embrace his friends.

They all drop their face masks in unison, smiling and laughing with him. Zack and Trini can't seem to keep their hands off of him, and even Billy keeps reaching out for him, as though to make sure that he's really there. Jason just reaches out in turn, reminding Billy that he is back, he's _home_ and that, at the end of the day, is what matters.

They're together again, and that's all that matters.

——

Keith gives himself a few moments to sit in Red and remind himself that he's home—inasmuch as a spaceship can feel like home (it does, it really, really does)—before he makes his way out to see Shiro and the rest of the team. There's still work to be done, and Keith will be damned if he falls behind because he was away fro a few days. He's not going to be the weak link, not now, not ever. He's a part of this team, and they're not going to go without him ever again.

——

Jason wastes no time looking up Lance's family information using what little he'd provided. It takes a bit of convincing to get Zordon to let him teleport across the planet to Cuba, but when he insists that it's for one of the paladins, Zordon concedes.

Jason goes in full Ranger armor, figuring that will make it a bit more believable. He still stands for a solid minute on the doorstep before finding the courage to knock. When the woman answers the door, she looks taken aback to see him there. "Yes?" she asks. "Can I help you?"

"Mrs. Gonzalez? I have a message from your son."

She stares at him, wide-eyed and surprised. Then she seems to gather herself, stepping aside in the doorway. "Please, come in."

Jason does. As he delivers the news that Lance is alive and well but may not return for quite some time, he expects to be sent on his way for bringing them false hope. Instead, the whole family seems desperate to thank him and shower him with gratitude. It leaves him hoping that the paladins really will make it back and wondering vaguely if there's anything the Rangers can do to help.

In the end, after he makes his way back to Angel Grove, he heads down to the ship to look into the aliens the paladins had been fighting. The ship's computer is decidedly light on information about the Galra, but it has just enough to make Jason sure that, next time the team can get some time off from jobs and school, he's going to try to get them all to head out into space to help the paladins out.

"Hey, Zordon?" he calls casually. "How much power do you think we'd need to get the whole team out to the paladin's ship?"

He can hear the pride in Zordon's voice as he answers. "I'll get to work on the calculations with Coran."

"Sounds good. And Zordon?" Zordon tilts his head, acknowledging Jason. "Thanks. For getting me back here."

"You are the Red Ranger, Jason. I could allow no other option."

"Still. Thank you."

The smile is small enough so as to be almost unnoticeable. "You're welcome, Jason."

Jason grins back as he steps away, making his way down to the Pit. If they're going to be taking out more murderous aliens, they have some serious training to do.

**Author's Note:**

> [Come hang out with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


End file.
